you get it all for a% of the budget. in addition to that, you have a force that sits 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year, ready to respond to today's crisis >> thank you very much. i will be happy to take questions. watch coverage of the democratic convention from charlotte, north carolina. next, president obama speaks to the troops at fort bliss. then mitt romney and paul ryan at a rally in florida. followed by a rally in richmond, virginia with paul ryan. >> president obama talks about a new initiative. while he was speaking to troops

in fort bliss, texas. he met in private with a group of service members and their families. fort bliss, texas is where he announced the end of the war in iraq two years ago. this is about 30 minutes. thank you so much, everybody. leadership, leading our troops home. aftermath of hurricane isaac.

state and local level. their hour of need. for welcoming here today. ray chandler. ronnie kelly. [applause] force in the world.

missile defense command. ironside. first. military family here. [applause] received from your civilian knowledge two champions of fort bliss.

also got all the great folks in el paso and new mexico. [applause] simple reason. life of our nation and military, operations in iraq. on a job well done. war, you were there.

your speed and strength, the and less than one month. went back year after year. insurgent, you stood firm take the lead. and courage. people at all our troops would be out of iraq by the end of the following year. skeptical.

said. troops, and this past december, here from bliss. high. iraq was over. forge its own destiny. fighting and dying in iraq. lives there. nearly 145,000 patriots. we salute all who served there. told you something else.

said. with allies and partners, we have taken out more top al qaeda terrorists than at any time since 9/11, and thanks to the is on the road to defeat and bin the united states of america. [applause] back.

all the troops from bliss highlanders. deployed later this year. fight. you know this. ultimate sacrifice, including day last month. our message to them was this. we will honor them always. pushed the taliban back.

month. war responsibly. lead for their own security. in 2014, the transition will be complete. never again. [applause] think about it.

and afghanistan. thirds. home. and what does that mean for you? prepare for the future. your spouses and your kids. stronger. restore american leadership.

don't you believe it. our alliances have never been gaddafi. leadership. top. [applause] incredible service. war, we are destroying terrorist leadership.

proud that the united states is is more respected in the world. a pledge. have served us. in them. to your families. hey. [laughter]

interest. when we do, we will give me the equipment and a clear mission to get the job done. [applause] world, bar none. superiority. [applause]

to scare you. find a plan to reduce the including defense. threaten them, to forcebut here is the thing. should happen. military strong. economy at the same time.

you come home. families, talking about how resources into this effort, injury. i know you have been a leader on who is hurting.

i signed a new executive order [applause] there when you need it most. providers. force to find out what works save lives. weakness to seek help.

[applause] families, too. [laughter] important right now. all sorts of things, but one you. americans need to be supporting ago.

participate in our economy. the rest of us, and every one of the american dream yourselves. your incredible talents. country. [applause] that america needs. joining civilian life in the

careers. start a business. camp that you actually like. bill. been trying to take your money,[applause] as police officers and passed tax credits, more wounded warriors.

civilian job. theater, you should not have to states. the united states. sector to hire or train 100,000 ahead of schedule with 125,000[applause]

congress to act. protecting and rebuilding veterans, and i say to every the job done, if you want[applause] [applause]

us. bagram. his team when their vehicle got flew in. fractured. were shut. not want to disturb him.

acknowledge it. eileen dim and i told him how recovery. blanket. he shook my hand. eye in that room. chase. surgeries.

feet. he had his dad next to him. he is back with his unit. american soldier. cloud of war. we are resilient. day on the horizon.

the war in iraq is over. afghanistan. home. we are moving forward strongerwe emerged stronger than before. to look at you. great for centuries to come.

says our country and our freedoms are worth fighting for. credit, but i will do my part and we will get the job done. back, and you have theirs. coming together, succeeding flag. our troops and your families.

do. the united states of america. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> republican presidential candidate mitt romney and paul ryan spoke at a fair where the sick farewell victory valley following the republican national convention. ♪

[applause] >> hey, everybody. thank you very much. it felt good. thank you very much for coming out to our sendoff. what a great convention, huh? ,man. man. thank you forour wonderful hospitality. we could not have done it without you. an earthquake hit off the coast of the philippines earlier today. but but the people of the philippines in our prayers at this moment, because we are

worried about a tsunami. we have people in our country in the path of the storm. let's put our players -- prayers' where they need to be for the people in the philippines and in the path of isaac's wake. let me say this -- coming out of tampa, we have given our fellow countrymen a clear choice. [applause] we can either stay on the path that america has been placed upon by president obama, of debt, doubt, declined. or we can get people back to work. we can restore growth and opportunity. the way we do that is by collecting this man, mitt romney, the next president -- by electing this man, mitt romney, the next president of the united states. president obama made a bunch of

promises when he ran for president. now, we see a laundry list of broken promises. 23 million people are struggling to find work today. the unemployment rate in florida is 8.8%. foreclosures, houses under water. the highest poverty rate in a generation. half of all college graduates are unemployed or not working in the field that they studied for. college graduate should not spend their 20's in their chaplain balance looking up at fading obama posters wondering when they will -- in their childhood the rooms looking up at fading obama posters wondering when they will get on with their lives. the president was asked if he would have done anything differently. he said, i need to talk more and

tell the american people a story. he needs to do more talking? we need to do better listening? is that the idea? friends, we have suffered from no shortage of words from the white house. missing is a real \ leadership in the white house. the question is this -- if we stick with the same leadership that we had over the last four years, how do we expect things to be different over the next four years? it will not be. that is why we are giving the country a clear choice. real leadership. that is what the romney-rhine plan is all about. it is about getting people back to work. given the kind of leadership this kind of country deserves. i have rarely seen in our

history a moment where the man in the moment need so well. this country needs leadership. do you know what we saw last night? we saw a man introduced himself. he brought us into his family. a man of faith, integrity, achievement. look at how much romney has done with his life. success, achievement, leadership. [applause] this is a man, when his country asked him to help turn around the failing philippics, turned it around -- failing olympics, turn it around and saved it. this is a man, who has proven he is a job creator. he created thousands of jobs. he started businesses, turned around struggling businesses. being successful in business is a good thing in america.

that is not a bad thing. that is what we do in america. that is the american dream. the record of contrast cannot be more stark. as governor of massachusetts, mitt romney worked across the aisle. he did not demonize people on the other side of the aisle. he balanced the budget without raising taxes. lowered the unemployment rate, increased household income. improve the credit rating of massachusetts. we saw high unemployment under obama. a downgrading of our credit for the first time. take-home pay is down by $4,000. this is clear. this is our moment. this is a chance where we have a choice. do we want the failed unit to -- leadership, debt crisis, welfare state, where do we want the opportunity society where

everybody can define happiness for themselves? [applause] that is what we are offering. that is the future. i want to thank the people of florida for their warm hospitality. warm in many ways. [laughter] we have this rule in wisconsin that when you turn 65, moved to florida for the winter. that is what my mom does. it is an honor to introduce you to the man who will be the leader of our country, to the man who is sharing himself, who has proven he knows how to lead. we will turn this around. we would get people back to work. we will save this country and its promise for our next generation. we will elect mitt romney.

he will be the next president of the united states. [applause] [laughter] >> thank you very much. what a welcome. what a sendoff. well, you guys are great. thank you. [chanting mitt] >> it is an honor to be here. you have touched our hearts. the welcome of the people in florida is something we will not forget. this was a big week for us. you have made it especially for us. people from the state getting behind our efforts, supporting us. many are commenting on, one of the speeches of one not forget is by the lady in red back here. [applause] one of the things i wished i

could do was break up with a pile of children on my floor in the morning or go to bed at night with our children talking to us about their problems. i get back to my hotel room. my daughter-in-law said, we can a range that, you know. the best mom, white, and grandmother -- wife and grandmother, ann romney. >> there are so many of you. thank you for coming out. i went to say something that i said in my speech. i hear your voices. [applause] we have an awesome responsibility. i am pleased to know that i have a guy standing next to me that has done amazing things in his life. he has turned around difficult situations, brought economic prosperity where people thought

it was impossible. i have seen him do it time and time again. give this man a chance. he will not fail. [applause] we need to give america a chance. it will be an exciting ride. florida will have to help us bring it home. thank you very much. [applause] she is something else. you've got some great people here. some of the people i want to recognize today are your next senators. there is a great guy over there representative and soon-to-be senator connie mack. [chanting usa ]

] i want to thank your congressman, dennis ross. thank you for being here. i want to thank my chairman of my campaign in florida, adam putnam, the new agriculture commissioner. and my other chair person. attorney general pam mundy. i appreciate your help and support. florida gave me the boats i needed to become the nominee. i think florida. one more task -- i need to have you do the work on november 6 that get me elected the next president of the united states. that has to happen in florida. [applause] for that to happen, you'll have to go out and find people who voted for barack obama. they are here. there are not as visible as they used to be. you can see some of the glue on

the back of their bumper sticker where it used to be. you can find them and convince them to get on albertine. we want to be held accountable for the promises we made last night. and the night before. we spoke to the american people about what we will do if we become president and vice- president. i contrast that with what the president said when he was candidate barack obama. he made a number of promises in denver with the greek columns behind it. he said he would cut the deficit in half. how did that work out? he doubled the deficit. he said he would be measured in a different way than others. he would be measured by whether he created jobs. he has not. he said he would be measured by if people had rising incomes. incomes are down here. by whether people would risk starting a business.

with a 30-year low in new business start-ups. almost every measure he described he has failed to perform the to perform upon. he was pulling in the wrong direction. he did not know what it takes to make the economy work. paul ryan and i understand how the economy works, how washington works. will reach across the out and find people who will work with us. we would get america on track again. we have laid out a five-point plan to get this country going. measure us. hold us accountable. do the same with the president. you are making a choice as to who the servant will be of the nation. who are the people who will lead this country and do what you want to be done. you listened to the last guy

running for president. he was unable to do what he laid out. give one -- give someone you a chance. hold them accountable. i want to make sure that every person in this country that wants a job can find one. that every retiree knows that their retirement is a chore, that medicare is there, and social security is there. i want every parent to know that their job will get an education that will prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. these are things we will do by carrying out five steps. we will get america and a g- independent by using our oil, coal, gas, and renewals. we will open up trade in latin america and around the world. we will crackdown on any country, like china, that she's

on trade. -- that cheats on trade. that children need the education they need. we have to put our kids first and said to the teachers, we are with you. the teachers' union is going behind. we will get america on track to have a balanced budget by cutting the deficit. we will champion small business es with the majority of jobs are created. we will not raise taxes on small businesses. we will not expand regulations on businesses of all kinds. we will take off that cloud of doubt that hangs over small- business this. we will repeal and replace obamacare to hold down the cost

of health care. [applause] last night you got to know me better with some friends that talked about my life and the things that have been part of my life in the past. i talk to you about my family. i was embarrassed with the nice things that were said. some people were overly generous, but i appreciate it. we got to know paul and janna. this is a man of real character, who has done something unusual in washington, which was focused on helping american not on being reelected. he has won by large margins. this guy in a democratic district wins and wins. a great leader. he will be a terrific vice- president. [applause] i recognize in this crowd there are some people who have served our country in a way most of us

can only a imagine. they have served in our armed forces. i recognize a man from the american legion, the united states navy. all of our armed forces and veterans, raise your hands to be recognized. thank you, sir. wow. [applause] it is one of the things that i love about florida, which is our veterans, who come here, our men and women in uniform, who have served him here, and come from this great state. we have a request to ask of you. you gave me a nomination. you have come out to support us. the convention was a magnificent and a wonderful opportunity to share our message with the people. thank you to the people in florida. we need you to get their people to vote.

we are not want to say vote early and often. we will tell you to get your friends to vote to pull people to the polls who do not plan to get to the polls. you have proof before. florida can be a close election. i plan on winning one for the perry it we will get this country back. thank you, guys. we love this country, and we are taking it back. thank you. ♪ >> i was born free. born free free, like a river basin strong is the wind i'm facing racing father time

deep like the grand canyon wild, like an untamed stallion. you can knock me down but you cannot keep chains on me. i was born free. i was born free of was born free -- i was born free born free i am not good at long goodbyes look into my eyes i was born thisfree ♪

yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ >> following the morning rally at lakeland linder regional airport ryan met with eric cantor. this is just over 20 minutes. [captioning performed by

national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [applause] ♪ [chanting usa] >> thank you. thank you. are you ready to win? do you believe in america? that is why we are all here. i cannot tell you how great it is to see such a terrific crowd on this hot day in of richmond, virginia. virginia will go. we will win. i have ai have the distinct hond

pleasure today to introduce to you, not only just a colleague, but it's a very dear friend. i have had the pleasure and honor of knowing paul ryan for over a decade. i have had the experience of knowing him when he worked and when he works and when he works. he can play a little, but he is a hard worker. this guy, we served on the ways and means committee together, this is the committee that is central to trying to get our economy going. paul ryan, since he came to washington, was dedicated for the right reasons, for the right cause, not just for himself, but for the people he represents to turn this country around and to take america back.

we have had the pleasure of getting to know his lovely wife, who is an accomplished partner and they're beautiful family. -- their beautiful family. let's give all of them a hand. of course, we would not be here today if it were not for betty, paul's mom. we love you. i know he is a man of family, faith, and he is a man dedicated for the right reasons, believing in america am, believing that we can succeed. as mitt romney said last night, we have a ticket.

mitt romney, paul ryan, a ticket that is dedicated to help small businesses. dedicated to helping all of you men and women to put people back to work. to make life work for families across virginia, and across america. please join me in giving my good friend a warm virginia welcome, the next vice-president of the united states, paul ryan. [applause] >> thank you.

thank you very much. we love you, too, man. how about this guy? man. you not only have a lot of my -- one of my closest friends in congress as your congressman, you not only have a principle spirited leader, you have the leader of the house of representatives as your congressman, eric cantor. you are very blessed. virginians are blessed. you have this great governor, bob mcdonnell. you have this great attorney general. you have this great lieutenant governor. and you have -- and you are going to get this great senator

back, george allen. this is the first rally we are kicking off after tampa. 67 days to go. we wanted to come here to richmond. i bring greetings on behalf of mitt. mitt is in louisiana meeting with victims of the hurricane, bringing attention to those who are in isaac's path. there are people there who need help. -- who need our help. how about last night? did mitt romney not show us the direction for the country? i do not want to bore you by saying the same thing over again, but it bears repeating. if we stay on the same path, we will get more of the same results.

lookit where president obama has taken our economy. 23 million people struggling to find jobs. the poverty rate in america is the highest it has been in a generation. half of all college graduates are unemployed or not working in the field of study for. -- they studied for. the president has put us on a path of decline, debt, doubt. here is the good news. we can fix this by electing mitt romney. [applause] president obama came into office during troubling times. he likes to remind us of that quite a bit. here's the problem. he made things much worse.

no one does, the president -- knowing this, the president cannot run on his record. it is a terrible record. what does he have left? he is going to have to distort cut divide, demagogue anything but what we actually did this for years. -- this last four years, because it's a bad track record. here is what we're asking you to do. we want to earn your support. we want to deserve victory. we want to show you if we put the right ideas in place by electing the right leaders, we can get this country back on track again. if we can get people back to work againl . if we can get the american dream again. the president was asked recently, looking back these last four years, the stakes, dallas or regrets? -- any mistakes, doubts, or regrets? he said, yes, i have not communicated enough. i need to tell the american people a story. as if that is our problem. he needs to talk more?

and we need to be better listeners? ladies and gentlemen, our problem is that we have not heard enough words in the white house -- our problem is we have not had enough leadership and the white house. these are trying times. we are at the proverbial fort in -- fork in the road. we have a choice of to futures. -- two futures. what you need in a moment like this, when our economy is in doubt, when a debt crisis lanes on the horizon -- looms on the horizon, you need leadership. it's plaguing europe. our children are facing a diminished future. you need principled

leaders. that is exactly what mitt romney is. you were getting to know this man like the rest of us know him. you're getting to know a decent man, a faithful man, an honorable man. i man exemplifies leadership. -- a man who, in everything he has done in his life, exemplified leadership. a man of achievement, integrity. take all look at what he did in his private life. by the way, being successful in business is a good thing, not a bad thing. [applause] we do not looked at other -- we don't look at other people's success would envy, we look at it with pride. we want to emulate people's success. this man started small businesses, this man group businesses. -- grew businesses. ts authority, bright horizons, staples. this man turned around struggling businesses with an astounding degree of success. tens of thousands of people

got jobs as a result. i am proud to stand with a man like that. i am proud to stand with the man who knows that if you have a small business, you did build that business. [applause] take a look at what this man did when leadership called. he was in massachusetts running businesses, creating jobs, and the olympics was in trouble. the olympics was plagued with a scandal, corruption, wasteful spending. sounds kind of familiar. they asked this man to help takeover. he did that. he dropped what he was doing and he moved for three years to utah. he turned around the u.s. olympics. we are all the better for it. we're proud of that moment. look at the difference and leadership and results between

president obama as president and mitt romney as governor of massachusetts. under president obama, the credit rating of the united states of america has been downgraded for the first time in our history. as governor of massachusetts, mitt romney saw the credit rating of the state was upgraded. families in america over the last four years have lost an average of $4,000 in family in come under mitt romney, it went -- family income. under mitt romney in massachusetts, it went up $5,000. remember when president obama used to talk about, we do not have read states or blue states, we are just the united states. we will set aside how does -- aside childish things and work together? this is the most partisan president, most partisan atmosphere we have ever dealt with. nothing is getting done because of partisanship.

when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts, 87% of legislators in the government of massachusetts for democrats. -- were democrats. what did he do? he did not demonize, he did not demagogue. he worked with people. he treated people with respect. he balance the budget without raising taxes. -- balanced the budget without raising taxes. that is leadership. that is focusing on results. the historians say there are four essential qualities that make for a great leader. four essential qualities that history proves are the kinds of people you need to lead these moments principles. a person with a moral compass, a vision for the country, and a person who has the experience and leadership skills to execute that vision. that is mitt romney in a nutshell.

[applause] we're not just going to go to you and say, vote against the other guy because he is no good. we could do that because the record is no good. we want to do more than that. you deserve more than that. we're offering solutions, specific ideas, here is how you take these principles that built america, liberty, freedom, free enterprise, determination. the government works for us, not the other way around. [applause] it is the virginians who gave us this doctrine. mitt romney and i have a five. plan for a strong for middle- -- have a vive point plan for a

stronger middle-class come up for more jobs, for higher take-home pay, for more economic growth, prosperity and opportunity. virginia, of all people who ought to understand this, it is right here in virginia. this is coal country. we have a lot of energy in this country. let's use that energy. coal, gas, oil, all the above. there are some me people who are in between jobs. there are so many people who have lost jobs. they need skills, they need to have a good education system so they can get back on their feet. that is incredibly important. we also have to remember that in america, with most of the world's population in other countries, we need to grow more things and make more things and sell them overseas. we have to have good trade so that people treat us fairly. we wish we had partners in the senate, but we do not.

what we have been working on is this. we have got to stop spending money we just do not have. we've got to cut spending. this is mortgaging our children's future. the senate has not passed a budget and three years. it is a disgrace. it's an abdication of responsibility. president obama gave us budgets and no solution to make sure we can guarantee of medicare. no solution to guarantee promises to our seniors. to make sure we can guarantee these promises are kept. no solution to guarantee that our children inherit a debt free nation. we will provide the leadership to guarantee that happens. [applause] in's never forget that virginia, in wisconsin, in all the states across the country, the engine of economic growth

were most of our jobs come from our from those men and women to start and run and create small businesses. that is where jobs come from. president obama is guaranteeing, he is promising, that the top tax rate goes above 40% in january. eight out of 10 businesses in america paid their taxes as individuals and they have a huge tax increase coming. overseas, where i come from, it means lake superior, countries like canada just lower their tax rate on all of their businesses to 15%. how one earth are we going to compete when president obama wants to tax them over 40%? our competitors are down at 15%.

what is worse, he wants to take this money from families, take this money from successful small businesses, and suspended in washington. -- and spend it in washington. if borrowing and spending and regulating and dictating and determining winners and losers worked, we would be entering the golden age along with greece. if the copy europe economics, we will get those results. this is more than just that. this is more than recognizing the fine man that mitt romney is. this is more than recognizing that we're on a very dangerous path. this is about determining the kind of country we're gong to have for a long time. this is about determining the kind of people we will be for a generation. this is that kind of election.

it does not matter how old you are or what generation to come from, this is the most important generation in your lifetime. -- the most important election in your lifetime. -- it's the most important election in your lifetime. excuse me. it really comes down to who are we, what are we all about to? if you had to put it in a nutshell, and virginians know this because a virginian wrote this, america is not just the place, it is an idea. it is the only country founded on an idea. that great a virginian, thomas jefferson said it better than anyone could have said. president obama needs reminding sometimes. our rights, they come from nature and god and not from

government. that is it we are. -- who we are. that is the american ideal. that is what this is all about. crowd: usa! usa! >> that is the meaning and definition of the american idea. if we get bad, the rest falls in -- get that, the rest falls in place. this is the commitment we are making to our fellow citizens. we are going to give you a choice. you will decide what you want this country to be. when we earn and deserve victory, then we have the moral authority and the mandate to make it right. then we wi[applause] we will not duck the tough issues and kick the can down the road. we will lead.

[applause] with partners like this in congress and with new leaders you will send, we will not spend four years blaming other people. we will take responsibility. we will not try to transform this country into something it was never intended to be. this country was created by our founders. it was secured every generation by our veterans, and we thank them. that meanswe will not replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles. we can do this. together, we can do this. we can get the country back on the right track. we can get people working again. we will bring real leadership back to the white house.

we can get this done with your help. we can get this done. thank you very much, everybody. god bless all of you. thank you very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ ♪ >> how about this guy right here? >> our road to the white house coverage continues tomorrow, when mitt romney speaks at a rally in cincinnati. that is scheduled to begin at 10:50 a.m., eastern. you can see it here on c-span. the democratic national convention committee has unveiled the convention staged inside the time warner cable arena in charlotte, north carolina. charlotte mayor anthony fox and the committee ceo of a tour of the arena to students from the north carolina school for the

deaf. facebook about the process of transforming the home of the bobcats to the convention's home. >> good morning, everybody. thank you guys so much for coming. i am steve kerrigan, chief executive officer at the democratic national convention committee. it is with pride and excitement that we welcome you here to the 2012 democratic national convention. in just seven weeks, the sports arena has been transformed into a world-class facility that will cost nearly 6000 delegates

and thousands of guests and visitors, not to mention thousands of members of the media. we have said from the beginning that this will be the most open and accessible convention in history, one that will engage more americans than ever before. if delivering on that mission begins and ends with our partners in charlotte. this event today, kicking off this open house, will help us think our friends and neighbors, think the city for their incredible hospitality and partnership. now, we are joined by students from the north carolina school for the deaf, as well as cleanup participants from around the region and the country. we are excited to have you with us, so welcome. later, we will welcome other students and numbers of the community for an exclusive first look at this arena. thank you all for welcoming us to your city. i moved here in june of 2011.

it is amazing to see this coming together. we are just a few days away from official proceedings beginning on tuesday, september 4, with michelle obama, the first lady of the united states. september 5, we have bill clinton and others. our great keynote speaker, the mayor of san antonio, and others will be taking to the stage. the screens behind me will allow them to deliver that message in a visually engaging way, both to the people in the arena and the millions watching at home or on line. today is really exciting for me. i started working on convention planning almost three years ago. i moved here, as i said, last june, to oversee this process. it is hard for me to thank so many people who have worked tirelessly on this.

i would like to attend -- to thank, first and foremost, our staff, and our partners at the host committee here in charlotte, for all their incredibly hard work to make to the possible. it really has been an amazing ride. i thank our construction management and his partners, and so many others, event sphere, neighboring concepts, and other great partners. i also want to thank the executive producer. he has become a great friend to all of us, and does an incredibly good job with the production you will see over the next several days, into next week. we could not be more proud than to have a great partner like ricky and his entire team, who have worked tirelessly to make sure of the stage is ready to

go and has the look and feel we need to convey the proper messages for the president. some of you were here last september, when we had our kickoff. more than 2000 members of the public were here. today, we have come full circle as we represent the end of convention planning, and the kickoff of festivities. the doors of the arena, as they were a year ago, are thrown open to the public, part of our upper to make sure the public is as much a part of this convention as we are. while we only received the keys to the arena seven weeks ago, this h been a longstanding partnership. on behalf of the entire convention staff, and want to thank everybody for everything they have done to get us to this important milestone. with that, i am honored to welcome another great partner, a man without whom -- this is not hyperbolic at all -- without whom we would not to be here.

his leadership led to an incredible bid for the city of charlotte to host this convention. the man whose leadership throughout the course of the last year and a half, since we secured the convention here in charlotte, has been flawless and endless, inexhaustible, and whose friendship i have really grown to enjoy, and i hope will enjoy a quite a while. he is a remarkable leader not just here in charlotte and north carolina, but across the united states of america. your mayor, anthony fox. [applause] >> thank you for that kind introduction. we will of course continue to be great friends over the next several years, including 2016, when you can come back. the excited about that. you really have been an

incredible partner. i am excited. as we get closer to the opening day of the convention, you can already feel the excitement in our community. you can see and feel the energy, even in this room. when i look at how this room has been transformed into a convention hall, i know the queen city will put on a first- rate 2012 democratic national convention. that is exciting. as i travel around the carolinas, i also feel the excitement. the city has been gearing up for this convention for more than two years. the enthusiasm from those in charlotte continues to be culpable. -- palpable. in just four days, this arena is going to be packed. this will be an international platform like never before. and we will put our best foot forward.

our city is a city on the move, a city that makes great things possible. that is the tagline our local host committee has adopted. we are filled with innovative businesses, a burgeoning world energy capital, and a community that comes together to make great things possible for its citizens. time warner cable arena is charlotte's arena. being here today makes me proud to see the finished product, knowing most of the work that transform this into a convention hall was done by local companies and local workers. their first-class work will be seen by tens of thousands of people in this arena, and by millions of people across the world. from day one, we in charlotte new -- knew this convention would come with tremendous economic opportunities.

more importantly, we knew our homegrown talent, and the capabilities of our people to take advantage of these prospects, were great. when our convention guests leave, and head out to our divorce and vibrant communities, -- diverse and vibrant communities, they will find a city filled with wonderful places to eat and entertain. i am really excited. today marks the beginning of the world's introduction to charlotte. now, i would like to turn it over to the chief operating officer of the dnc, who has worked around the clock to make to the possible. steve is another person without whom we would not be here today. he will tell you why. thank you. >> thank you, mr. mayor.

good morning to all of you, and thank you again for joining us today. seven weeks ago, i knew we had an ambitious time line, but our stuff and construction management team, -- staff and construction management team, we knew, would rise to the occasion. as you see, they have transformed this arena into a world-class convention hall. our construction management partnership with hargrove, hunt construction, he h.j. russell, and neighboring concepts have worked hard to transform this arena. they finished the behind-the- scenes infrastructure changes necessary for us and the media. their work has become the backbone of the convention hall. on top of that, he is the stage to see. it is the product of the

fantastic work of our production team, led by the executive producer. they have taken the lead on designing the stage and podium, bringing to bear decades of experience in producing world- class live a vengeance -- live events. bruce rodgers is our production designer. this innovative design is the first and so on configuration in a -- end-zone configuration in a generation. the speaker can be surrounded by three sides on delegates. the stage is smaller to fit into the space, but it brings the speaker closer to the audience. we have built the stage with materials and technology that will be reused over and over again, trying to conserve the resources available to us. the array of screens you have seen this morning to give us a blank canvas on which to amplify the message of speakers. all of this is possible because

of the city of charlotte and the bobcats organization, our landlords and fantastic partners at the arena. this is their home. we promised to treat it well and return it the way we found it. thank you again for joining us today. i would like to hand it back over to steve. >> thank you. thank you, theo. a word about theo. thea was one of our first -- hiresas one of our first and back in washington, before we even moved to charlotte. he think about how to fill the president's vision to make this the most open and accessible convention in history, to put more americans in the arena and have them participate in this convention. i think the way he described this stage is brilliant, because

it does exactly that. every aspect is focused on that. he and his team have done a remarkable job on that. i want to say one word about our landlords, the bobcats, if they are here. we really love you guys. they are great. the-one of the most welcoming arena partners i have met in my life. we are thrilled to have such great friends within the organization, and such great leadership up the top. we are grateful for all the work they have done to make today possible. with that, i will take questions. i think the first is from one of the students. >> because the president is coming here for the convention, why is he required to come? >> that is a good question.

it is not necessarily required to, but he is required to accept the party nomination. in the political process, there are two different -- right now, we have two major parties, the republican party and the democratic party. they each get a chance every four years to determine who to put on the ballot to be president, so people can vote for them. every state and the district of columbia and pr -- puerto rico have the opportunity to cast ballots all year long. everybody gets to go and vote in their state for a particular person. that narrows it down. , we picked this time barack obama to be our nominee. all of the states did it together. they are all here collectively. they are coming to represent all of the people, all of the

democrats -- we hope more people in north carolina. they are all here to say, "we stand with barack obama for the nomination." you will see all these different states. you see desks with microphones. that is where they will stand and say, "our state supports barack obama to be president." that is the nomination. he gains the nomination of our party. without that, he cannot be on the ballot, and he cannot be president again. which of course want that. we have to go through this process so every american and every democrat has a voice in the process. when they get here, these people represent the democrats who voted throughout the primary caucus process, to come to charlotte to vote for the

democratic nominee for president. in eight weeks, we hope everyone in the country votes for who should be the next president, barack obama. we come here to give him the nomination. he comes here simply to say thank you, and tell everybody what he would like to do if he were elected president of the united states. he would have four more years to fulfill his wishes for the country, and how he wants to move our country in the right direction. he will explain that to everybody. it is an opportunity for everyone here and on television, and watching online, to see that and understand his goals for the country. it is the culmination of a lot of voting that took place over a long time. he will lay out his vision for the next four years. that is a very good question. thank you. i feel bad.

used to the entire time. -- you stood the entire time. next question? >> what images, what seems, do you hope people at home get? how did you do the stage to make sure that happened? >> a lot of this is a production for people here in this room, but we also work with our friends who will be up in those broadcast booths, to make sure the message is getting out to households across the country. we are also on eight different digital media platforms, so that folks who do not just watch network television to get their news can access speeches and watched live streaming video of what is going on. our hope is that all we do in here will be conveyed to people at home, whether through our friends in the television media or through radio, or digital

media as well. we hope, but if you are not here, you will get gavel-to- gavel coverage. folks who cannot come in here but want to see every aspect of the convention can watch that as well. >> what message do you want them to take away from your production? >> we will let the campaign speak to the messages of the campaign. we are going to do another student. is that ok? to engage youth in the democratic convention, we will continue a lot of the work we have been doing over the last year and a half, in gauging folks from all over the country. -- engaging folks from all over

the country. we announced we were coming to charlotte with an e-mail from the first lady. she sought advice from folks about how we can use the convention to engage more americans. we got a huge input from young people around the world about how we can do this. the big piece was, and get us involved. give us opportunities to engage. we have done service products around, -- projects around the community. we have a youth council that will open public meetings next week. we have youth components of the program, which i am sure you will enjoy next week. we have been engaging young people who do not necessarily sit in front of the television to watch news. we have been working with a digital media to engage folks.

that is one of the fascinating things that changes every four years, the technology. it allows us to reach people where they get news. rather than making it incumbent on them to find us, so we can give them our message, we go to them. wherever they get their news, however they choose to engage -- we just want to celebrate that they are getting involved, feeling that the process i just laid out is important for our country, and particularly for our youth. we do everything we can to engage young people in this process. , we have a requirement that there is a young delegate caution -- quotient. thank you guys for coming. i want to mention we have a second group of participants

from all around the country. we are glad to welcome you all to charlotte. >> how many people from the public will go on the tour? how many will you be accommodating? >> it was thousands of people who signed up to come. the question was how many signed up to come to the open house today. thousands of people had. we are doing everything we can to accommodate as many folks as we possibly can. it was an impressive number, but it was not surprising for us. we had the open house and the year out party a year ago, and over 2000 people came on a dreary morning to pack the house. we will start with schoolchildren, who will come in slow -- in shortly after 10:00. we tutored at a school last

year, a lot of our staff members. they will join us and be one of the first schools to come through here this morning. there is going to be a lot of people coming through. we are excited. as the mayor said so well, he is is charlotte's arena -- this is charlotte's arena. we want people from all walks of life to see what we have done with it. i hope they know we are thrilled to have them as such a critical part of convention planning. >> this is going to be the most open and accessible convention in years past. specifically, how will it be open and accessible? what are you doing to make that happen? >> this is the first convention in history that begins and ends our week of convention with -- [mike scream]

someone did not like your question. it begins and ends open to the public. it is so we can use monday, which is labor day, and kids gets cool off, as a date to engage families -- get school off, as a day to engage families. you can talk to the host committee. it would give the opportunity for people who might not get a chance to participate. we are also having caucus and council meetings all week long, monday through thursday. all of them are open to the public. people can come and talk about a wide range of topics the democratic party wants to engage john. we do not just want to talk to each other. we want to talk to everybody else. we want to talk to the public. this convention is not a closed-

door party-elite event. the president wanted this to be a convention that brought in the grass roots of our country and engaged them. our friends in tampa did a wonderful job with their convention. good for them. but that is a different type of convention. it is not one with the number one focus being how to engage more people. the speech will allow tens of thousands more americans to attend and witness a great moment in history. not just a moment for north carolina, where those who are used to going to panthers games will see the president and vice president accepting the nomination, but for everybody. it is a great, historic moment for our country, when somebody accepts the party nomination. that is exciting. and the eight digital media platforms is a huge aspect.

we are reaching out to folks where they get their news and where they get their engagement. this convention floor should show you. we have almost 6000 delegates, more than twice as many as they had in tampa. it is the most diverse grass- roots group of delegates that either convention at either party has seen, because up has been our focus. that is the way you make change. that is the way you engage americans in what you are doing. we are doing important things next week, talking about the future of our country, and the direction we want our country to take. that is what we want as many americans involved in this as possible. that is why we are planning the most open and accessible convention ever. yes? >> some dimensions of what you

are looking at back here? >> what is not important -- it is not how many pixels and how much this ways. -- weight. pardon? how tall is it? >> it is really, really tall, but not as tall as the ceiling. i think it is about 60 feet tall. it is not the facts and figures that are important. our creative team has brought together a lot of elements to create a canvas that allows the speaker to convey the messages of this convention, and brings the speaker closer to the audience. we do not spend a lot of time counting pixels or figuring out how much it ways. -- weighs. we are trying to make it possible to deliver the message of this convention. >> next week, watch gavel-to- gavel coverage of the democratic

convention from charlotte, north carolina. every minute, every speech. next, a discussion on young and african american voters impact on the elections. after that, a profile of undecided voters then, president obama speaks to the troops at fort bliss. >> c-span brings to speeches from democratic conventions past. from harry truman's remarks in philadelphia in 1918 to president obama in 2008. that begin saturday at 7:00 p.m., on c-span. >> gavel-to-gavel coverage of the democratic convention starts next week. every minute, every speech, live on c-span, c-span radio, and online. featured speakers include the

mayor of san antonio and the first later -- the first lady, he elizabeth warren, and bill clinton. thursday, vice president joe biden and president barack obama. and use our convention hub to make and sure video. -- share video. >> we offer opportunity. we demand responsibility. we will build an american community again. the choice we offer is not conservative or liberal. in many ways, it is not republican or democratic. it is different. it is new. and it will work. >> count your own opinion, and collect with other c-span viewers. connect online. >> howard university and morehouse college hosted a discussion thursday about the

youth vote in 2012, with speakers representing democratic and republican points of view. they discussed how social issues like abortion and gay marriage might affect the youth vote and the african american vote. they also talk about voter i.d. and changing registration requirements. this is about an hour and 45 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. good afternoon, everybody. thank you. thank you. i feel like i am about to announce the starting five, the starting lineup for the team. we have a good group of people backstage. i want to bring each of them out with a little bit of background of who they are. i will make a couple of remarks, and then we would get questions and statements. questions from up here. hopefully, you will be completely stimulated and

excited and engage, and you will get up and ask questions also. we can have a good discussion. frankly, what we are here to talk about is you. we are talking about the generation that is going to be making the decision that will last the next couple of generations. we want you to be involved. the first person i am going to bring out is the host of the nationally syndicated richard fowler show. he is the advocacy director for the young democrats of america. he has been featured as a commentator on fox news, msnbc, a variety of international stations, and hosts a radio program. he is also a delegate to the 2012 democratic national convention, so we will be seeing him in charlotte next week. richard fowler. [applause] our next panelist, is lorenzo

morris. he is the former chair of the department of political science at howard university. he held a chair at the university terrace. he is a consultant on public policy, and has talked previously at mit. he has been a research fellow with the brookings institute. he has worked with west africa and all of the united states. he was going in new york. he studied at oberlin -- was born in new york. he studied at oberlin and yale. thank you, dr. morris. next, i will bring up an old friend of mine. i used that purposely, because we are both now hold. -- old. elroy sailor. he works in washington d.c.,

with j.c. watts. as ceo, he manages a team that operates the largest african american own lobbying firm, chaired by former congressman j.c. watts. he worked for the former governor of michigan, the senator of michigan, and a chief of staff of the house leadership conference. he is from detroit, michigan, and a graduate of morehouse college. thank you. next, robert sanders jr. he is counsel to the united states committee on the judiciary. he is of principal policy advisor to senator dick durbin of illinois. he chairs the committee on civil

rights and human rights. he offers council on issues ranging from cyber security to campaign finance reform and civil rights. he was recently named on the 40 under 40 list. he earned his b.a. in political science from morehouse college in 2001. thereafter, he completed study at wharton business school, getting a law degree from the university of pennsylvania, where he was president in 2004. he is a member of the bar. [applause] 'sanre -- anre washington is the student government association president of morehouse college. he is a passionate advocate for all students. one of his goals is achieving 100% voter registration on the college campus. he also has a focus on

increasing student safety through partnerships with the atlanta city council, and the atlanta police department. thank you for being here. since we decided we could not have a panel entirely fall of man -- full of men -- as you will notice, we are heavy on the testosterone. coming up last, but certainly not least, she is your student government president here at howard, brittany foxhole -- foxhall. [applause] she is a junior international business major from detroit, michigan. a lot of detroit up here. i like that. she has served a leadership role in numerous organizations on and off campus. she is the team leader for the 21st century advantage program and active in the howard university student association.

she also, represented howard in a council of student leaders from the metropolitan area. she in turn from -- for johnson and johnson corporation in public service sector, and upon graduation, plans to enter the peace corps to work on business management in underdeveloped nations. [applause] so, thank you all for being here. thank you, panel, for being here. i want to make a couple of remarks, as we get started. i have been doing this now, working in politics, for about 20 years. i started when i was sitting at morehouse college, in a group just like this. i was sitting on campus when bill clinton came, during the georgia campaign in 1992. someone handed me a flier and said, "the governor of arkansas

will be talking. go listen." i did not think i would like him. he was a new democrat, sort of conservative. we thought maybe he was a republican and democrat clothing. the clinton was a conservative governor. he talked about all the things important to me. in 1992, we were in the middle of a recession. he was talking about getting the economy moving. he was talking about how grants and student loans, making sure people had health care. all these things that somebody on the verge of leaving college and going out into the world thought were important. what we have seen over the past few years is the growing influence of the younger generation in picking presidents. when you think about what happened in the last election, 2008 -- in 2008, president obama -- there were 130 million votes cast. the coalition was african

americans, latinos, women, and young people. let us just look at the age the mcgrath numbers, in particular. -- demographic numbers, in particular. him, 2008, 10% of the electorate was between 18 and 24. the last election, 2010, when republicans were able to recapture the house, 6% of the electorate was 18 to 24. and 21% of the electorate was over the age of 65. when young people vote, they get to choose the leader that they want. when they do not vote, the have leaders chosen for them. this election is going to really can to on the turnout of this generation -- hinge on the turnout of this generation.

people may decide they do not want president obama anymore. but you should make that decision. do not let people make it for you. with that, i am going to go to our panel. since she was last, we are going to ask her to speak first. we will work our way through the panel for opening remarks, before we get to questions. >> hello. i am a senior international business major, currently serving as your president. i thought it was important our voice was heard today. as you know, this is a pivotal election year. we each play such a big role in what is going to happen. i think being engage and being a part of the election is so much more than going out to vote. as howard university students, as morehouse students, we are the premier university for african-americans. we are developing the leaders of tomorrow. we should be informed. we should make important

decisions. we should know the platforms of the republican and democratic parties, so we can have informed conversations with our peers, and know what we are speaking about and voting for. that is what i want to speak about today. >> good afternoon. my name is anre washington. a special show about two the spellman ladies who are present -- shout-out to the spellman ladies who are present. we have to be engaged. 2012 is a critical election. since president obama was elected, there have been significant actions to suppress the voice of our african- american youth, the elderly, those who trained elections. we are here to say, you may try

to suppress this voice, but we will be heard. >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is robert sanders. i and the council -- am on the council that advises thick durbin. i am glad to be here behind enemy lines. i am looking forward to talking today. i hope that we will talk a little bit about why it is important to vote. there are probably some young people, though not any in this room, who may be thinking, why is it important for me to vote? my vote does not matter that much. i will start by leaving you with this thought. there are plenty of millionaires and billionaires who are contributing to superpacs, and many nationally known political strategists who are trying to do everything they can to make it harder for people like those gathered in this room to vote.

our committee has done an extensive set of hearings across the country. what they indicate is that it is harder for young people, minorities, seniors, disabled folks, and poor people to vote, because of laws being passed across the country. if you do not think your vote matters, all you have to do is what the folks in the opposition are doing. we will talk more about that today. >> good afternoon. thank you for having me here. thanks to the president of morehouse college in to howard university for hosting this forum. i am a father, a husband, a friend to as many as i can be. over the last 20 years or so, i have had an opportunity to see politics up close and personal, serving at the executive level at the state level, and serving at the legislature of the federal level. hopefully, i can share my

experiences with you all. most importantly, now that i have them out of politics for almost 10 years, it is a different job. when you are in politics, your job is to market. you have a product. you have a candidate. you have ideas to market to a constituency, to try to move them from. -- from point a to point b. now, i just want to educate and try to share my >> thank you, as a professor i can't help but make some fairly technical observations. but it's important to remember that it's almost a year to the day that the nation became aware of the deprotesque and persistent inequalities that katrina showed us, that led i think to a national

consciousness that the direction of the administration of the period wads not going correctly and led to oon attitude change toward that administration, encouraging two years later the success of obama and at the same time a reaction. that reaction gives us a special reason to think about electoral participation today. following that election, voting restrictions began to appear for the first time in legislatures and now they're all over. if you ever doubted how important it is for young people to vote, i can give you a number. by -- but just for a maholm, i've been threatened with microphone cut off if i talk too long, but to see the extent of the intent of sometimes a partisan nature, sometimes an idea -- ideological nature, of

the intent to suppress the black vote and perhaps the liberal white vote as well. ohio was a critical state that push bush over in 2004 and there were 50,000 votes that made the difference. some say the poll evident was a chance to go from church to the polls. the secretary of state cut off -- cut off voting on sunday. and you heard the g.o.p. say that by instituting restrictions on voting, mitt romney was going to be put in office. in florida they produced a list of 2200 vote who were eligible to vote out -- without voting. it threatened the access or fact of access for hispanic

voters. there were nurms activities in those states that suggested a conscious disregard for free access to the vote has taken hold and the reaction to the process we felt from 2006 to a few years ago has been concerted. so the difference is that number which puts us over the top in terms of those people that want to retain the values that this country is supposed to support in terms of electoral participation, 61% is a good number. that is the stimmed number of all voters, not just registered voters, needed to get obama re-elected. 61% is also the number of white voters needed to get romney elected. just one little point in this regard. in 2002, 2004, and 2008, youth voters, plaque and hispanic, went up almost 9% and that 1% difference if you just take that 1%, if obama gets more votes than ever before except

last year he will lose if that 1% goes. that 1% is more than the 50,000 that carried ohio and a whole lot more than carried florida. so the vote may be in our hands. >> well, thanks for having me. i want to thank howard university and morehouse. the question is why vote? and i ask myself, why not vote? basically, if i could be frank, we're generation screwed. the reason why is because look at the statistics. most of us are graduating college with overwhelming amounts of student debt. most of us instead of buying an apartment, going out and living the american dream are moving back into -- in with our parents and sleeping with our snoopy sheets. we are dealing with all the reasons why we should be the generation most apt to vote. this could be the most historic election of our time. if we saw what the capitol has done in the past two years to

young people -- they objected to three million of us going back on our parents' health insurance, they've objected to keeping the rates on student loans low. they said if you want to go to college, shop around and get the best option. when has it been ok that you shop around for education? you should go to the best institution that your brain can get you to. that's why this election matters. if we don't turn out and our voice isn't heard, we will be generation screwed again. the reason for that is the older folks have run the country. the former president was part of the old guard and they drove us off the cliff and if we are stupid enough to let them drive us offer the cliff again or lower us into the ditch, i should say, we are going to be in a really, really bad situation. so it's more apparent than ever before in this election for us

to come out and for young people to be beyond voting and tell others they should go vote, too. it's p just us. you need to bring five people to the polls, 10 people to the polls. your roommate, classmate, girlfriend, boyfriend. everybody needs to go to the polls so our voice may be heard. >> so we've heard a lot of people talk about how young people should go vote. but i have always believed that people don't vote just because it's what you are supposed to do. i remember being at this point and people would say rosa parks sat down so you could stand up. that was interesting, a nice historical lesson, but what's going to drive young people to go vote? what particular things? like even one of these candidates, what makes the people in this room get up and go vote. >> i think the biggest thing,

there are all sorts of points. i think it will depend on the student. it depends on your situation, what you come from that is going to influence you to go out and vote. but as a college student. the economy should hb the biggest concern of yours. we're going to be graduating and you are going to want a job. like he said, you're not going to go home and live at your parents' house. you want to be out on your own. that's why you came to get an education, so you can get a job, create a career, prosper, be out on your own. it scares college students to see that they're cutting financial aid, increasing tuition and it's hard for us to stay in school. and in the economy, it's so upsetting that it's still hard to get a job. that's my main concern. i think everybody is going to have a kiff concern depending on where they came from and what their focus us. do your research and find out

what directly is going influence you to go out and vote. >> let's hear from anre. >> i guess my frustration with getting folks out to vote is it doesn't get much more challenging than what african-americans are facing right now. when it's the great recession, jour jobless numbers are double. it doesn't get any -- much wore as far as black wealth disappearing in the real estate crash and with pa black businesses. we are in crisis. a lot be times people don't get it right until trouble knocks on their front door. so i implore students and everyone that we shouldn't play the zero sum game when it comes to elections. that's the mistake we make, that we show up on election day when it's something that strikes a nerve with us, or something that is emotional. we show up and then disappear

for four years without realizing that there is a mid term election and if we blow people's phones up, local and state legislators, they respond. i would say, stay engaged. stay engaged. republicans have to respond to you just like democrats do. don't say -- play the zero come -- zero sum game and say if they're not whoon -- who i wanted to win, i'm going to wash my hands of it and walk away. as students, don't sit down and observe. we are the current momentum in change in all periods. elections. we are the engine, we are the hope of the country, black, white, any other. i would implore you not to wait for it to get any worse because it already is bad enough. >> i'm not going to let you off the hook this easy. making it more personal. what is it you want as a person

in school right now? what could a candidate say to you that would whake you not only vote for them but go out and work for them? >> i would get hipped a candidate who looks at the world not through the lens of his experience but through the lens of my experience, understanding that i came to this institution, morehouse or other students that look like me, not looking at it as one narrow mold, in understanding that although i am a black male, we are very, very diverse and come from all types of backgrounds. i would get hipped a candidate that understands the importance of having a low interest rate for my loans after college, who understands that student loan debt is as important add -- as housing debt and medical care. i would get behind a candidate -- candidate that would lobby for me when it comes to credit cards and understand that some

students have to live off credit cards in terms of meals and stuff. and get behind a candidate who understands it is important for him to not look just at the numbers but when it comes to public service you are dealing with people, not just basic facts, black and white, numbers on a piece of paper. i'm fully supporting a candidate that doesn't -- doesn't just believe that i am a vote but that i am the hope for this country and doesn't look at me as a charity case but as the future. >> those are good reasons. i think that if you want a pell grant, it's on the line in this election. when -- if you want to borrow money, you borrow with a mortgage, it's on the line. there are a lot of other technical reasons. but people surprised me when we

said you should get out to vote, it's not just the outcome, it's who you are and what you are doing. the rosa parks generation preceded mine. when i came to school, this was an organization everywhere. we've reached a lull in black organizing. we don't want to be on the other side of this moment and say we did absolutely nothing. the vote is the easiest place to begin. you can do your revolution later, but if you want to start, you have to start with practice. >> he will roy did, elroy, i think you are the only person on the panel with children, is that right? >> yes. >> other than professor morris? no. [laughter] as a person with young children, what is it you look for when you think about voting on their behalf in the next election? >> thanks for the question. as a father i am blessed and fortunate to have two people in my life, my son and my

daughter, that i am responsible for them, for raising them, what gets on their, the type of food that gets on their plate, the tie of thoughts that go in their mind, the things that they see and hear and learn. when i begin to look at the socioeconomic structure of our society, i try to make life very, very simple. i always like to say i'm not smart enough to make things complex so i make them very, very simple and i say look, my wife's got to drive and take the kids to school. four years ago gas prices were $1.89. today, $3.70. i'm not here to market. i'm just going to gifblet facts. educate. 14 years ago my wife and i got married in detroit. i was dront -- fortunate. i worked at pizza hut after graduation morehouse and ended up finally getting a job in the governor's office. but i was able to save a little money. my brother and i went out and

bought a fixer upper, a duplex. my wife and i moved into the upstairs. mort ganle was $675 a month. my objective was to use that for my college fund. my father raised me to say the only two hands you can trust are the two hands at the end of your sleeves. i used that property, today it's now worth $20,000. that's a big problem when i look at what's available for my kids. that money is not there any more and now i've got a -- to think about another way to start saving more -- for my daughter's college edcation. the home you i currently live in, seven years ago it was valueded at x. the goal was to sell that house, the value, and leave

that to my son so he could have a leg up but with the value of the house, i've got to now work equally as hard. so looking at housing, when i look at the tax structure, that we have not had major tax reform since 1986. now they're talking about the tax code, talking about getting rid of the home mortgage interest deduction. if they do that, that's a killer. secondly, when you start talking about where you live, where you eat, now where you go to school and talk about those issues, those become very, very important to me as a dad. on the social side, and i athis with love and i'm a bible reading fellow. that's just the way i was raised. but when you have a public figure who spokes -- speaks for the country and they get up and make ay. -- statement about different orientations, that becomes difficult for me to talk to my son about it. my son will say, hey, the

leader of the free world believes this, daddy. he looks like you, looks like me. how am i supposed to think about this? so you want to look for a candidate who kind of he is pouses -- espouses certain views. i want -- you want to think locally but also about the community. a lot of the people are not in the position i'm in. they may be single moms. they may not have a car, be dealing with transportation issues. but i start locally and i think about what do i need to do as a dad to raise these two kids, what do i need to keep my wife holy, healthy, happy. a happy wife is a happy life. i like to keep it very basic and practical. sometimes we can get so big with this stuff, it's discombobulated. when i was on capitol hill i thought way out here, the omnibus regulation bill.

my son would say, what kind of bus are you talking about? i boil it down. there are a lot of great folks in washington, d.c., they work in government or the private sector. i say this respective -- respectfully but if you are a g.s. 15, probably making $140,000, if your wife is working there, probably making $200,000. if certain people want to -- have their way, want to go back to the pre-bush era tax cuts, $3,000, 4,000, that's not being pro-romney or pro-obama. it's taking money out of my table and when i go back to detroit i don't see the value of another $4,000 going back to washington. four years ago the president campaigned on hope and change, i was very excited.

said we're going to end this war. we've got 33,000 more troops in afghanistan today than we did when they started. you telling me to stop? >> we'll get back time-out >> i try to make it personal the >> albert, you're on capitol hill. we heard a little bit of the big, broad framing from elroy a second ago good -- about some of the economic issues. what are the democrats, you're not in an official capacity, but as someone who is informed about what's going on, what are the democrats, what are they going to do if they get back in power for four more years? >> well, it's a good question. i think you have to look at where we are now and where we've been. we've been in the middle of a campaign season over the last several months and people have a tendency in campaigns i think to get tired of hearing the

same thing over and over again. sometimes when you hear the same thing over and over again, it's because it's true. the fact is that a lot of the financial challenges we face in this country, a lot of the policies that have resulted in job loss, in the financial collapse on wall street, that have resulted in people like my friend here seeing the value of his home plummet, were policies -- results of a policy advanced by a previous administration so the first response in answer to that big picture what the current administration wants to do and what the congress and senate wants to do in supporting thestrationtration is be sure we establish and support policies that will be able to move the ball forward so that regular, ordinary americans are able to wake up in the morning, find a good job, support their family and live out the american dream. scombramal, you asked a question a minute ago about when -- why should people vote and i would sort of turn to folks in the room and ask a

couple questions that will answer both the issues you raced -- raised the how many in the room are under 26 years old. raise your hands president of those folks, how many think you might get sick at some point and need to go to the hospital? not all of you. some of you are invincible. but most of you. well, we have an administration now that through at fordable care act passed health care reform and made it possible so that 2.5 million more folks leek you around the country are able to stay on your parents' insurance. that's a tangible policy result. how many of you are african-americans that are familiar with or know someone who either has a drug addiction or is in jail now dealing with a drug crime? raise your hands? ok. so you may know that 20 years ago, 25 years ago during the war on drugs there was a sort of get tough on crime, get

tough on drugs mentality. legislation passed that resulted in a 100-1 sentencing dispairate -- disparity for crack versus powder cocaine. well, we have an administration now that passed the fair sentencing act. what it did was reduce that disparity so that a man walking down the street with five pounds of powder cocaine is not sentenced to the same five years in prison that someone walking down the street with the equivalent of two sugar cubes of crack cocaine. we could go on and on talking about these issues but what i want to say is this. people need to be thoughtful about how an administration's policies will impact your lives on a day to day basis. folks up here are right. you have to figure out which candidate is in your corner and will fight for you. it's true there was a lot of excitement. the title of this forum, is you know, is the thrill gone among

young voters? the yes -- question i ask is what was the thrill about? we heard chris matthews during the election saying "every time i hear barack obama speak i feel a little chill run up my leg." we heard obama girl and her 30, 40 million views on youtube and heard her talking about the crush she had on obama. but i don't think the millions why -- were engaged in the last election so she could pursue her crush on obama. the folks in this room are looking at policy, looking at how this will impact their lives. that's why it's important for folks like us to get out and vote. >> thank you for that. richard, i'm going to is ask you -- ask you to do something a little bit different. how many of you recently saw the poll that said mitt romney's support in the african-american community was roughly zero?

[laughter] which is very different for republicans. usually, president bush did better than many had done. republicans usually get, correct me if i'm wrong, somewhere between 6, 8, 9%, 7% of the african american vote depending on the year. so a rounding error, we have at least one person on the stage that might vote for mitt romney so let's assume it's not quite zero. what would you say if you were advising romney for the day, if you wanted to get romney to convince some african-americans to support him in his ticket? >> i think that's a great question. we've seen so much demagoguery of barack obama this whole week at the democratic -- at the republican national convention,

sorry for the slip there. you -- i would say first, going to michigan and talking about your birth certificate, not the answer. but beyond that point, i think what the republican party has done over the past couple months is they've really tried to rustle up this undertoned "we don't like black people," and i say that nicely. i don't want to distress my republican colleague on this panel but it's true. when you make arguments about people living off the argument, about people who are waiting on their check from the government, the truth of matter is when you look at the statistics there are more caulk asians on public assistance from the government than there are black people, and beyond that when you have rick santorum in his convention speech, i think monday night he spoke, he said half of america is on government handouts -- ok. even if that number makes any logical sense, that means you are talking about grandma,

getting social security or medicare, a disabled person getting social security or medicare to live. they make it seem as though every african-american is on some sort of public handout and that's just not true. and i rib -- remember, and jamal, you brought this up, but when i first started doing television i was on with a fox news colleague and she said "michelle and barak, they've benefited from the system," and i'm like ok. that makes sense. so did mitt romney and they have this whole mantra, "we built it," but all the programs, they benefited from government programs, from government contracts, from the small business administration. 9 fact are the facts and the fact is that this republican party has gone down the wrong path with african-americans. we don't want you to give us more handouts. we want you to help fix our

problems. fix k through 12 education. what -- we want to know how you are going to help us when they graduate from college and have mountains of debt. what are you going to do about it? they had the economy for eight years and they wrecked it. they let wall street have their way with the economy. people don't know this,, but the student loan debt, they're cutting it up and selling it all sorts of places. when they send me the bill i tell them no and put it back in the mail. because there is no way i'm going to be able to pay off some of this debt. you don't even know where your debt belongs because they've sold it because wall street has had their way. so what i would say to mitt romney is that you cannot think that talking about prosperity and greatness is how you convince african-americans to

vote for you. one thing is i want a plan and he does not have an answer. for the past three days they've had the media 100% of the time and still haven't presented an answer. so far the only answer is that they don't want the black guy in the white house. if that's all they want, that guy, if you take the black out of it, he's looking out for our interests. he's made sure grandma had her social security check and medicare and that's an issue. they're going to tell you they're cutting it when they're not cutting it. there is double speak that this party does that is beyond belief. at the end of the day even if the economy is not going the way it needs to be --, when patriotic got the keys to this economy, we wrb at negative 8% g.d.p.

professor, i'm going to ask you this question because i think richard is constitutionally having trouble getting his mind into the role as a preliminary consultant -- but over the past years, what do you think about the conservative, classical conservative or the conservative ideology that you think the republicans today could try to sell if they really were trying to go after african-american votes? >> well, i think they could do a better job sticking to the classical conservative approach. some government responsibility in business. what we are seeing today is not classical conservative in american politics. this is fairly extreme. for example, "the washington post" publication today to which i referred earlier that had responded in the republican party to the question of why,

why very few or no blacks are voting for romney. the response among the republicans, 59% of them is -- said it's because they want to depend on government and want people to take care of their needs. that kind of attitude is not typical of the traditional republican party. >> what would the traditional republican party have said? >> it would be conservative on government spending but not one in which social issues hemmed such primacy beyond the immediate agenda. you have social issues in the platform. and by the way, platforms historically conform more to what governments do than campaign speeches. historically they end up becoming closer. this platform opposes any kind this platform opposes any kind of social welfare pol